For our 412th art meeting, we visit the 15th Terrace Exhibition at the Elgiz Museum. The Terrace Exhibitions have so far featured 395 works by 262 artists.
The conceptual framework of this year's exhibition is “Contrast”. The concept of “opposition” (polarity) appears as a prominent artistic feature in the history of both art and philosophy. However, “Opposition”, which is a necessary element in the emergence of art, should be considered separately from Duality. Because Duality usually implies an ontological difference between two extremes.
In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang, which symbolize the embrace of opposites, indicate that opposites are complementary, interdependent and dependent on each other. In the light of this artistic and philosophical problem, the American abstract-expressionist painter Ad Reinhardt, in his essay “Timeless Art Words, A Guide to the Polarities and Art Critics”, presents a list of opposites that may be valid for art in every period. Heinrich Wölfflin, in his book Basic Concepts of Art History, mentions five opposites (linear/shadowy, plane/depth, closed form/open form, multiplicity/unity, determinacy/indeterminacy) that visual artists face. However, there is also a tendency towards oppositional categories in the categorization of different styles in art history. This is perhaps an indication of how important opposition is in the nature of art.